Enjoying Outside - The Perseid Meteor Shower!

Kristie Ehrhardt • August 6, 2025

Meteor showers are sometimes called shooting stars but in actuality they aren’t stars at all. Meteors are actually rocks, dust and debris trailing behind an asteroid or a comet. Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through a rubble field left behind by asteroids which are composed of metal or rock or comets which are primarily composed of dust, ice and/or rock. They happen annually as the Earth goes through its orbit and passes through the debris zone again year after year. The Perseid meteor shower is the result of the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (Swift-Tuttle). The Swift-Tuttle is a large comet with a nucleus that is 16 miles (!) across and was first discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle.



Often regarded as the prime meteor shower of the year, the Perseid regularly boasts 50 to 100 meteors each hour! This year the Perseid’s prime viewing period peaks on the evening of August 12th and into the early morning hours of August 13th when the Earth is moving into the debris zone. Unfortunately it also occurs during a Gibbous moon - a phase of the moon with more than half of the moon’s surface being lit up by the sun; this year it is predicted to be about 84% illuminated. The brightness of the moon will obscure the night sky making it more difficult to view some of the dimmer meteors. Regardless of the moon or other factors such as cloud cover, the meteor shower is best observed between midnight and the early dawn hours.


The Perseid meteor shower is known for being swift, bright and colorful leaving long wakes of light that track after them as they burn through the Earth’s atmosphere at 130,000 miles per hour. These vivid streaks are known as fireballs and travel at extremely high speeds with intense ionization resulting in especially radiant colors. These fireballs appear as various colors because of the different elements that they are composed of: red is a result of atmospheric gases and nitrogen, yellow/gold is iron, violet is calcium, orange is sodium and blue-green is magnesium. Primarily, the larger the piece of debris is, the more brilliant the meteor appears. If a meteor doesn’t burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and makes it to the ground it is called a meteorite.

 

For those of us here in the Northern Hemisphere the Perseids are best observed in the early morning hours and luckily for us, they occur during the warm summer when it’s pleasant to sit outside looking up to the sky. For the best viewing opportunity find a rural spot that is far away from ambient light such as street or yard lights with a clear and unobstructed view of the open, night sky. Grab a lawn chair or blanket and a buddy to "oooh" and "ahhh" with and get comfy. Be patient and allow time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness and then begin looking for bright streaks of light across the dark sky. The Perseid meteor shower originates near the constellation Perseus for which they are named. To find it look to the northeast for the constellation Cassiopeia (look for a W or an M in the sky) and Perseus will be located below it. If you can’t find it don’t worry, you should be able to see the streaking lights all over the sky but again, the bright moon will most likely make viewing some of the dimmer meteors difficult. You may be able to see more of them before they peak due to the darker moon.

 

If you miss this one, keep an eye out for the Geminids meteor shower which peaks in mid-December!!


-Kristie Ehrhardt (kehrhardt@tuleyome.org)

Tuleyome Land Conservation Program Manager

RECENT ARTICLES

By Nate Lillge October 2, 2025
Tuleyome was excited to be back in the field at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve. Volunteers installed a Chronolog station that will help monitor restoration efforts on the Blue Ridge Trail. This station - a post next to the trail that encourages hikers to take a photo - will help UC Reserve System document the changes at the site without large amounts of resources and time dedicated to monitoring. You can be a part of restoration efforts by taking a photo at the station. Thanks to our volunteers who joined us! Photos from the day are available on Flickr . Check out our website for more chances to help Tuleyome maintain trails! More information about Chronolog can be found on their website . There are currently two cameras at Stebbins - one monitoring big leaf maples and this one on the Blue Ridge Trail . Head to Stebbins and be a part of the restoration efforts!
By Geoff Benn October 2, 2025
Interns Diego, Ellen, and Rithika on the Rotary Pavilion at the Preserve Tuleyome is excited to welcome three new Horticultural Interns for Fall 2025! This is our second year offering this internship, where we pair college students with mentors at Woodland Regional Park Preserve to assist with projects including invasive plant removal, native plantings, and native species monitoring. This year’s cohort includes three UC Davis Environmental Science and Management majors – senior Diego Barraza and sophomores Ellen Jenkins and Rithika Warrier. They will be mentored by longtime Preserve volunteers Jennifer Hogan and Teri Barry. Over the course of the Fall Quarter, the interns will join volunteer crews for work days at the Preserve, providing opportunities for both skill development and networking. The Preserve, which opened to the public in May 2025, is a restored former landfill site that was developed into nature preserve to provide outdoor education opportunities and to protect the rare and endangered plants found on the site. The Preserve is a collaborative effort by the City of Woodland, Tuleyome, Yolo Habitat Conservancy, Rotary clubs, and other local organizations and volunteers. If you have any questions about the internship program or Tuleyome’s work at the Preserve, please contact Geoff Benn at gbenn@tuleyome.org.
By Bryan Pride October 2, 2025
Thank you to everyone who submitted comments on the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule and the USDA reorganization. We've cycled through several comment periods over the recent months, including the current open comment period for the rescission of the Public Lands Rule . Your voices joined half a million people who participated in the Roadless Rule comment period with 99% of comments supporting protection of our forest by keeping them roadless. This level of engagement shows the administration that we the people are paying attention. But our work isn’t done. Even though we defeated Senator Lee’s amendment to sell off public lands in the Big Beautiful Bill, the administration is still pursuing that same goal through a more coordinated attack. The mass firing of federal employees, efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule , the Public Lands Rule , and the proposed reorganization of USDA create the conditions necessary for unprecedented extraction from and eventual sale of our public lands. What we're witnessing isn't a series of isolated policy changes, it's a coordinated strategy with the "Big Beautiful Bill" connecting each attack on our public lands. The Strategy The sale of public lands started with DOGE’s mass firing of thousands of experienced Forest Service rangers, BLM land managers, and National Park employees, dedicated public servants who had built expertise from boots-on-the-ground field work to policy development roles. The loss of these public servants also means the elimination of institutional knowledge of what sustainable land management looks like in practice. The administration then moved to make these cuts permanent by closing and selling federal office buildings. The Ukiah BLM office , which manages the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument was initially threatened with closure but was eventually removed from the list. Removing the land managers was only one part of the plan. The Big Beautiful Bill passed through Congress with devastating budgetary cuts and protocol mandates for public lands and national forests. The bill, now signed into law, mandates destructive logging quotas : 250 million board feet annually from National Forests and 20 million board feet from BLM lands, with annual quota increases through 2034. The bill also requires agencies to award 20-year logging contracts to private companies, locking in extraction commitments through 2046. Logging levels this high haven't been seen since the 1900s. While the Big Beautiful Bill is now law, agencies cannot implement these logging and extraction mandates unless existing protective regulations, the Roadless Rule and the Public Lands Rule, are rescinded. These rules prevent the Big Beautiful Bill’s quotas from being implemented, which strongly suggests why the administration is moving to eliminate them. The Roadless Rule has coexisted with national forest logging for 25 years. The Rule protects 58.5 million acres of sensitive forest by preventing new road construction in designated roadless areas, while allowing logging to continue in areas with existing roads. However, the mandatory extraction quotas in the Big Beautiful Bill require access to previously untouched, sensitive areas. Meeting these dramatically increased quotas means building roads through currently protected roadless areas. Rescinding the Roadless Rule is a prerequisite for implementing the Big Beautiful Bill’s mandates. The Public Lands Rule recognizes conservation as a legitimate form of multiple use alongside grazing, mining, logging and recreation. The Public Lands Rule hasn’t stopped these uses, it requires that these activities be managed sustainably to protect long-term land health. However, the mandatory extraction minimum in the Big Beautiful Bill prioritizes meeting quotas over sustainable management. Rescinding the Public Lands Rule removes the requirement to balance extraction with conservation, making it possible to prioritize extraction regardless of long-term impacts on public lands. The USDA reorganization completes the strategy by eliminating local expertise, moving California’s forest management out of state. With no local forester position to resist unsustainable quotas or provide expertise about our unique ecosystems, implementation of new extraction protocols becomes inevitable. The sequence reveals the coordination: eliminate the people who understand sustainable management, pass legislation mandating unprecedented extraction, then remove the regulatory barriers that would prevent implementation. Why This Matters Now The Big Beautiful Bill's extraction mandates are already law, but they cannot be implemented while protective rules remain in place. These rules alone make it nearly impossible for the administration to enforce the newly set and unprecedented logging quotas. The protective rules that would prevent devastating extraction practices are under attack. Without these regulatory protections, the already-passed mandates will transform our public lands in ways that may be irreversible. Help speak for our public lands and take action to protect conservation by signing on to Tuleyome’s petition opposing the rescission of the Public Lands Rule, and/or submit comments directly on the Federal Register , you have until November 10th. For more information on how to participate in the public comment process or other advocacy opportunities, contact Bryan Pride Breaking News: Federal Government Shutdown The federal government shut down at 12:01 AM on Wednesday, October 1, 2025. National Parks and public lands will remain open to the public, though each location will vary in the number of staff present. USFS and BLM will have reduced staff at both field offices and regional offices. Some staff will be furloughed, while others may be working without pay. Offices such as the Bureau of Reclamation have the ability to run and operate Lake Berryessa activities for at least two weeks due to their access to discretionary funds, this is not a reality for all agencies. It is fire season. The Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture both released contingency plans for the lapse in federal funding. Both plans state that personnel directly related to wildfire response will largely be exempt from furloughs. The DOI's plan said National Park Service employees involved in fire suppression or fire monitoring activities will not be furloughed. USDA's plan said that employees who respond to and prepare for wildland fires will not be furloughed. Furloughs will still affect employees who are red-carded, or have wildland fire incident qualifications, but whose wildfire duties are secondary to their primary duties . During the government shutdown, some services may not be available or will be delayed. With reduced ranger presence on public lands, take extra precautions: don't hike alone, let someone know your plans, and be sure to pack out what you pack in.